Are 2 doctors better than 1?
by Jaime Hudson
Summary: When a rare eclipse occurs up in the sky, Dr. Smith soon meets his match... or two!


**"Are 2 doctors better than 1?"**

The signal had come from so very far away... Appearing as some kind of dramatization - but also a comedy - it would seem... Something about a war... and the signal was coming in so strong & clear, that one of the characters had then become 'real'... in 3-D, and full color stereo too. And a meeting soon happened. This phantom had materialized, all because of a rare eclipse of the local star by a bluish-colored comet. A comet that was composed of rock and ice, but also, at it's ultra-dense center, a core of mysterious dark matter. And where dark matter comes close... physics often becomes a bit fuzzy... where just about anything could happen!

On yet another faraway planet for the crew of the Jupiter 2, John Robinson, Major Don, Will and the Robot, and everyone but Judy and Doctor Smith, had gone off in the Chariot an hour earlier, to observe the blue comet, which was flying by on a trajectory that brought it extremely close to the planet's surface. In the Jupiter 2's kitchen, and looking for some leftover chocolate cake in the fridge, was Dr. Smith - and when he turned around (after procuring the last piece of cake onto his plate) he jumps at suddenly seeing a middle-aged man wearing a hospital smock, cap, rubber gloves, and breathing mask... or at least to Smith, this hologram or facsimile look-a-like would appear to be a medical doctor, ready to perform surgery. More or less, this was the immediate impression given by the unannounced - and most unwelcome, at this moment of hunger... stranger!

The odd visitor suddenly lowered the medical type breathing mask, and thusly spoke: "My, that chocolate cake looks ravishing... Our mess tent never serves up anything looking that good... Hello there, my name is Hawkeye".

Just then, Judy, who had stayed behind because of a rare headache, came into the kitchen for a glass of water... She turns to Smith, after seeing the 'visitor' and asked: "Doctor Smith... Who is this - and when did he get here?" Smith, often the cause of more than a few headaches himself, sheepishly replied to her: "I... just... don't... know!"

Suddenly, Hawkeye eyeing Judy, now produces a single red rose, meant for Hotlips Hoolihan (to make Major Burns mad), from one of his doctor's smock deep pockets...  
"Talk about a real ravishing dish... Oh, dear sweet blonde princess of a faraway star... A rose of the Universe, you truly are!" He then hands the flower, not native to this planet, to Judy. She says a polite 'Thank-You', then gets busy with some cooking duties - boiling up some freshly picked locally grown potato-like veggies. Hawkeye notices them and says: "Mash them taters up!" She gives him a confused but kindly smile, then proceeds to ignore the stranger... After all, she does have her heart more than a bit taken by Don, but she is never rude... all class... a lady.

Dr. Smith upon seeing Hawkeye wooing Judy, asks: "What are you doing, my dear doctor - if you really are one?"

Hawkeye replies: "Seeing as I'm even farther from home now, why not chase a few skirts... out here in these way & far, far outskirts!"

Up to this moment, Hawkeye thinks he is real and that Smith is just a mirage or 'ghost' spirit... But Judy just seems so real - a real & lovely woman to him.

Suddenly, Hawkeye says: "Dr. Smith... if you really are one... You are just a fig newton of my wild imaginings... A mid-Summer nights day-dream of obscuring obfuscation... a raunchy reverie of my highly addled, over-worked by sobering surgery... mind. A simple-minded, mind-less vacation from all my war time duties & worries, my dear Sir!" Suddenly the trajectory of the blue comet changed the beam of the highly charged TV signal from Earth, and Hawkeye then vanished back into the background ether of deep-vacuum space from where he had originated... leaving Smith with a huge, and ultra-real headache. He felt so ready to faint - as was his habit, for many years...

A scant week later, an even weirder green comet appeared overhead in the sky. This came right after its crossing closely in space with the blue one, and coming even nearer to the planet. Smith, looking directly at it during early twilight... then suddenly vanished. Like someone had turned his 'light' off! Funny thing was, no one missed his presence. Well, for a few hours, at least... at dinner time.

Smith didn't feel a thing. In fact, he now felt like a ghost must feel. He felt nothing...

A moment later - he materialized on the bridge of a ship... a BIG spaceship. One so huge it would make the Jupiter 2 look like a tiny minnow of the stars!

Dr. Smith sees several men and women, in tight knit space uniforms. Just a short breath later, a dark-haired man with a perpetual impish grin plastered on his face appears from thin air, standing only a few feet from a very confused and quite dizzy Smith...

It is the one known by the Enterprise-D's crew as 'Q'. Of course, Captain Picard looks very much alarmed. Maybe he has two 'Q' here now? Sacre Bleu!

Looking around the bridge, Doctor Smith sees Data, then he, naturally, screams. Then he sees Worf... and screams even louder!

When counselor Deana Troi then tells Picard: "This apparition, perhaps a spirit or ghost, may also be just an example of a group hallucination... and not real?" Doctor Smith, thinking he has died and really is a ghost, screams yet again... then vanishes! All the while Q just has the hugest of smiles, and quickly lets out a short chuckle of glee.

At this juncture of events, Picard looks even more upset - at Q - before asking Data for an analysis...

Data quickly replies: "Captain, a fascinating phenomenon, but NOT one of the 'Q'... and, quite definitely annoying!"

Q: "I for one agree, mon Capitan! What do you think, 'micro-brain' (Worf)?"

Worf: "Annoying? Yes - but never so much as you, Q!"

Picard: "Sorry to rain on your reign, my dear Q, but I do heartily concur!"

With that Q also now vanishes... and not too soon enough for Picard, Lt. Worf, and all present company included...

As soon as he appears back on his planet, and runs to the Jupiter 2's kitchen, Dr. Smith quickly devours a big slice from an all new chocolate cake, and with great gusto, saying in between bites: "I... deserve... this!"

Another slice of cake then floats out of the fridge, vanishes in midair, followed by an invisible voice (Q) that says: "I agree."

With this latest shock to his nervous system, Smith passes out at last!

THE END?


End file.
